leaders and corporate ceos and ceos tell us you shake hands and walk out the door. we will see what kind of activity we get out of tomorrow but a lot of activity for lori rothman and melissa frances. melissa: how you get 77%? dennis: that is what he said. melissa: it is pretty funny. love to see these devotees dennis. had back. lori: i am lori rothman. melissa: i am melissa frances. will washington play ball or just bore all? president obama kicking up a busy week of meetings for the fiscal collected a. union leaders tomorrow ceos leading up to the meeting with congressional leaders on friday. so many meetings. lori: of the talks fail could we go over the fiscal click? our guest thinks so. they will feel that the most.

melissa: a major reshuffle of who is in our out. lou dobbs joins us ahead. lori: are markets reacting that of the fiscal cliff? we head to the floor of the stock exchange with nicole petallides with modest gains. nicole: a green arrow, for all those folks who have seen the market selling off with an exception. we were down over 2%. we lost some of the earlier gains and was up 1/2%. and we look at some names on the move with microsoft, stepping down, the leader over 23 years, and people are wondering why and weigh in on the nasdaq, dell

little better. home depot numbered with good numbers. cisco back and forth with its earnings estimate. melissa: the energy sector mostly lower today in global economic worries that natural gas is bucking the trend up 4%. jeff flock have a latest on that. >> it is cold. i had snow in my yard. the markets are very much on seasonal issues. i will get to that in the next hour but natural-gas up almost 4%, below normal temperatures forecast and it looks like for the first time since 2007, the earliest decline in inventory, the supply is going away because it is cold, need to burn more natural gas.

the oil sector down today, texas intermediate losing 1/2% and this is mostly global concerns that most people look at brand as well that is the bigger loser as well because the i e a, international energy agency indicating there is going to be less demand worldwide and this extends to the gasoline sector as well. take a look at that. it has been down 1% last i checked. no more gasoline rationing in new jersey, still on long island. there you go. lori: complaining about the weather in the midwest. i really feel sorry for you. melissa: president obama meeting with labor leaders as he avoids the fiscal coin. how is it going? did they fix everything yet? >> it is fixed. come on. tell us what is going on.

>> the meeting just wrapped, it lasted an hour. we shout of few questions up the driveway. and the question is did the president just list them and follow what they had to say, listening and moving along? this is what labor leaders want, and richard trumka saying, quote, and no more bush tax cuts for the richest 2%, no benefit cuts for social security, medicare and medicaid. john boehner says we will talk more tax revenue in an overall tax system but we won't discuss without entitlement reform. that is the key for republicans. they will do tax revenue but it has got to be part of an overhaul of the tax system and has to involve medicare, medicaid and social security. exactly what, folks. but white house don't want to.

melissa: leaders in d.c. are scrambling to figure this out but our first guest says he really does fear we're going to hit the fiscal cliff. think of while e. coyote and the acme parachute. scott hodge is president of the tax foundation. you are well known for innovative ideas on tax policy. in the 1990s you campaign to include a child credit in capital gains tax cuts. what is your best idea this time around? >> the best idea right now is for everybody to take a deep breath and pumped into next year. all the tax cuts should be extended for one more year to give congress and the white house some extra time to get off of their political posturing and make a rational deal between them. this is the worst time of year to make some sort of deal. this eleventh hour deal during a lame-duck session when a lot of members of congress have been defeated or retiring. this is what got us into this

position two years ago was a lame duck deal at the same moment, the eleventh hour and it is time to put this into next year, take a deep breath and come to the negotiating table and work out a smart deal, not just a political deal. lori: kicking the can down the road in your view. what is the timeline and what does the best deal look like in terms of revenue? >> the best deal comes from fundamental tax reform, a lot of people talking about lowering rates across the board, eliminate as many deductions as possible, broaden the tax base, help economic growth dramatically. lori: what about the 250 k threshold? are higher earners going to see higher taxes? >> we got to may be split the difference and say people above that level will pay a higher tax but maybe not higher tax rates. if you eliminate the deduction that are targeted specifically to them you can avoid the economic effects of higher

marginal rates and increase their overall burden. lori: the tax foundation found which states stand to fare the best and worst if we do go over the fiscal cliff. let's start with good news, the lowest tax increase from the fiscal cliff. we are moving to hawaii. colorado and washington state. >> exactly. those are not really intuitive but a lot of those states are in the middle. their incomes are in the middle. lot of people in the middle class so those people will often see the least earned because they are not paying alternative minimum tax or benefiting a lot of the child tax credit and other things whereas at the other end of the scale the states that are hit the most are those states that have a lot of people that are in the amt and that will be a big deal come the fiscal cliff. lori: those include connecticut, new jersey, maryland. >> a lot of blue states in there that voted for obama. at the other end of the scale

are people that are in poor states, in the south and southwest. those states will see a big tax increase and largely because they benefit from a lot of things like the child tax credit, many refundable credits, a payroll tax cut would be most disproportionate to them. lori: i said the child tax credit is your claim to fame. do you think that will continue? >> i do think so. we ought to worry about the fact that so much of it is refundable which means even if you don't pay any income tax you still get a tax rebate from the irs and the irs is giving out $100 billion the year in refundable tax credits. i look to that to be a big part of the negotiating between the white house and republicans. should we put these people back on the tax roll, part of that 47% that no longer pay income tax? lori: what is the worst-case scenario if we get the fiscal cliff? >> it would be terrible.

we have done the economic modeling on this. we see this would have a severe impact on long-term economy, about the equivalent of four hurricane countrys hitting the united states each and every year over the next ten years. it would knock 7 percentage points off of the economy over the next ten years, equivalent of $1 trillion gdp, could not as many as eight million or nine million people love of the employment rolls. serious stuff. lori: thanks for talking to us. always appreciated. etna's ceo is one of those executives meeting with president obama tomorrow but today he is sounding off on what the fiscal cliff means tt business. melissa: make money despite the market's penetrating sideways. charles payne joins us next. let's look at the trade on metals as we head to break. not too nervous by hiding out in the backyard or stuffing it in the mattress or what have you down $3 or $4 and that would be

uncomfortable. 4g lte is the fastest.

so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon.

okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a differenc? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all oer networks combined. melissa: time to make money with charles payne, technology stock. charles: i tell you out the gate it is volatile. buckle up. goldman sachs upgraded it today,

target of 106 reduced expectations and the idea that market share is taken from cisco which is true and focus on network, that is in the headlines. network security's, a cyberattacks, and gross margin is 86% operating, and company that hired people hired people. it is an expensive stock and explosive growth. the stock pulled back recently, a new product out. the debate is 2.0. [talking over each other] charles: having said that -- melissa: i know technicals. i don't know anything else. i know interest rates. politics. charles: a heck of a combination. i will use 80 as a stock if anyone is thinking of buying it

or anybody is in and on the upside, the first trading card is 95 and long term if you are buying or holding to handle the volatility acting $110 visited a good company and cloud security planned service provider and ecommerce indicator and my biggest problem is the street is always at odds with this company. sometimes doesn't seem it can grow fast enough but good that goldman sachs -- [talking over each other] melissa: you had to throw your pen cap. charles: knowing about that -- melissa: we are getting ourselves in trouble. to wrap it up, we can always see that. [talking over each other] charles: lot of short interest. it is important. [talking over each other] melissa: as we do every 15 minutes let's check the markets.

nicole petallides is on the exchange, utilities we are covering. nicole: don't know but i am happy to talk about utilities. one to talk about would be the x bill you focusing on utilities. utilities were certainly directly correlated to the elections. what we saw was utilities had been running up over the last six months and peak in october going into november and once the election took place, the current administration has plans and the fiscal cliff is upon us that we are going to see dividend paying stocks and end cap gains being taxed at higher rates utilities have been out of favor and the x bellevue has fallen but it could be an up arrow melissa: thank you. [talking over each other] lori: what you doing over there? melissa: like to put it up here. lori: in a bottle or snake oil? melissa: a new drink pepsi is launching a which is a fat blocker or whatever.

look how the dollar is faring today as we head to break. you can see it is weaker against the euro. we will be right back.

>> 20 minutes past the hour your fox news minute. pentagon officials confirmed defense secretary leon panetta is demoting the former head of u.s. africa command. general chip ward is accused of spending thousands of dollars in unauthorized expenses. the former african head will retire as three star lieutenant general and will have to pay $82,000 to the government. as senior defense official who has seen 20 to 30,000 pages of e-mails between general john allen and joe kelly tells fox news the exchanges were flirtatious in nature. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan currently under investigation for allegedly sending the e-mails to the whistle lower of the general david petraeus 6 scandal. general allen denies wrongdoing. almost 80 new members of the house of representatives in our nation's capital for the top of

freshman orientation. among the newly elected members are several potential members elect whose races of not been called. those are your headlines. back to lori and melissa. melissa: thank you for that. thanks but no thanks is the message delivered so far to a suggestion by erskine bowles he served as chief negotiator between the white house and congressional republicans as talks heat up over the deal with the debt looming and nagging fiscal clip. charlie gasparino. melissa: can't believe he doesn't want that job. melissa: charlie: he wanted but they don't want it. for sources tell the fox business network erskine bowles of simpson-bowles, former senator from north carolina worked in the clinton administration offered himself up as chief negotiator for these talks, a go-between because he gets along pretty well with republicans and is considered a moderate but what we hear from the white house is what you just read. thanks but no thanks probably.

the white house is leary about putting erskine bowles in this position primarily because they want to drive a hard line and what is interesting is what we are hearing out of washington is this is part and parcel, the decision has been made about the treasury secretary, he can screw a nut but jack lew becomes treasury secretary. erskine bowles does not. that is what the white house is signaling. jack wu is a more partisan democrat. no doubt about that. worked on wall street and citigroup and the clinton administration but that is the hard line, going hardest hit on this. that is the word by not putting erskine bowles in these talks we can handle it. what is interesting about this is tomorrow those ceos led by jeff immelt and dave cody -- i can't -- corrected on this 100

times to meet with the president on the fiscal to fix the debt. erskine bowles is one of the founders of the committee. what i am saying is the white house distanced themselves from erskine bowles which means he is likely not to be treasury secretary and unless he screws up, he has got to deliver what the white house wants. president obama wants higher taxes as part of any deal. the economy is good or bad and he wants higher taxes. other interesting notes, sally cried check made it possibly taking over from mary schapiro. an e-mail, she has not gotten back to me. [talking over each other]

charlie: i bet my pickings she has not. [talking over each other] melissa: a professional. do you communicate. [talking over each other] lori: can't ask about professional relationships with general david petraeus. charlie: since i was at the wall street journal -- [talking over each other] adam: i am usually good at that. i am good at -- melissa: everyone, simpson-bowles in this framework, and a bunch of baloney and here he is saying to come back and work on the deal. charlie: not the democrats but the white house. politically speaking, he didn't do himself any favors by saying paul ryan is a brilliant guy. melissa: everyone wants to look

like they want to make a deal. [talking over each other] melissa: when push comes to shove they don't. charlie: i do not agree -- you are going to embrace the republican vice-presidential candidate in the middle of a hotly contested campaign. you will not be part of the new administration. is this baked in totally? i can't tell you the future, what the white house is signaling. erskine bowles is not running and the deficit commission, the idea of a chief negotiator, pretty much -- melissa: here comes the cleft. lori: steve versus steve, microsoft's ceo steve ballmer and windows chief steve singofski. 23 america south veteran coming.

let's take a look at some movers in today's session, the doubt 33. some as the movers, southwestern energy, 6.7% gain, western union, all topping 3%.

lori: quiet day for the markets but let's check to see what stocks are up to. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange with nicole petallides. bank ceos are talking fiscal cliff. nicole, are you there for us? she is busy studying for the next report. let's get you updated on the markets. the dow is at 12,847 meeting

in washington that charlie was talking about. melissa: that's right. about a quarter of a percent there on the markets. so after a 23 year career with microsoft, windows chief abruptly quicks only two weeks after the windows 8 launch. joining me with more an analyst on his sudden departure. did this one catch you by surprise? >> sure. whenever you see a departure of that senority that magnitude, particularly after launch of some important products which he was in charge of, yeah, i think that is fairly significant news. melissa: there was a whole suite of products that he had launched. does it make you worried about the future of those products or what is even in the pipeline? >> not necessarily. remember speculating, this is what the bears are going to say today. the products are failing in early ramps and that is's why this guy was let go. first of all that is speculation. i don't know, no one knows.

tell you at the product ramps it is way too early to determine if they're not making it. remember we're only days and weeks into this. melissa: from all the press, and you never know from these sort of stories. it is the company spinning it and trashing him on his way out? all the reports say basically he was difficult to get along with. he was a tough personality. do you buy that? do you think that is microsoft spin to sort of make it look like they made the right decision? >> he did have that reputation. so that's possibility. what i worry about. if it is a situation where the ceo steve ballmer is trying to eliminate a future rival that is a problem, particularly if this person is well-regarded and does a good job. however if he is tough to get along with, if he is holding back the company, a decision has to be made. apple again, speculation cause of those departures did the same thing about a week ago. melissa:

that is interesting parallel. basically we have two of the biggest players at these two big enormous tech companies leaving roughly the same time. what are the parallels? >> well i think the common thread is that both folks were, at least rumored were to be difficult to get along with. until we hear differently because i don't know that you can make the call that the new iphone 5 or the new versions of ipad at apple or the new products at microsoft, you can make a determination if they're going well or not. just too early in both ramps. melissa: bottom line, on microsoft. do you think this company is a buy this right here? we're looking at a chart right now. relative weakness lately. is this a buy or a company that is sort of dead money? >> you know the proper trading pattern, and this is not something we do at our firm, if you were a trader the proper pattern over a long period of time is buy it in the high teens, very

low 20s, sell at 30. today the stock is down. we're still trading 26, 27. so i think it is probably just a hold. melissa: apple, you've been a long time apple bull. what do you think of apple here? >> i think apple is a buy. the way i look at this, it is too early to speculate on the success of these new product ramps. meantime i love the fact that the company is being innovative. the company is as innovative as ever in the last couple weeks or months. when i look at the valuation of this company, it trades at a discount, to the s&p 500. so you are telling me that this is being valued as a below average u.s. company, when we all know it is a superior company. melissa: we're looking at the chart. we've seen, as you know, steep decline here since the end of september. a lot of it has to do with the idea that we just don't know long term what is in the pipeline if apple can continue to have the same magic that it did under steve jobs. you feel confident right here it is not a buy, it is a buy and it is not the

beginning of the end? >> i don't know if you want to catch a falling knife if you're a short-term trader you're long-term oriented like us i think it is a great buying opportunity. if you put a 15 multiple on the company which i think is very conservative, add $128 a share in cash, a stocks that goes up 50, 60, 70% from here. melissa: paul meeks, thanks for joining us. we appreciate. >> it thank you. lori: forget tte treadmill. have a pepsi instead. too good to be true and it is but we'll tell you about it anyway. soda giant revealing a new product in japanncontaining a fat blocking fiber that can reduce fat levels at the in the body. go to the gym. drink water. melissa: i love this idea. lori: can reduce, think about what they did to the lab rats to find this out though!. melissa: that's true. lori: this product can apparently reduce absorption of fat in the body. put it in cola. this has been approved by

the japan health food and nutrition association. the beverages are okay because they are food for specific health use. will we see it on u.s. store shelves? we'll see. melissa: i may fly there and get some. lori: no comment. melissa: afl-cio president richard trumka speaking out of a meeting with president obama and other labor leaders on the fiscal cliff. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we're prepared to stand up to make sure there is shared sacrifice here so the rich actually start paying their fair share and middle class don't get soaked for that. lori: more of the same. are you really surprised to hear that from trumka? melissa: i have no comment. i mean, what do those words even mean? anyway, business leaders and ceos will join president obama for day two of fiscal cliff talks tomorrow. as you can see they're getting a ton done. really closing in on that solution. lori: time to walk the walk as it goes.

the uncertainty of the fiscal cliff mean corporate layoffs? probably so. we're like debbie downers on the subject. we're hearing straight from the source at "the wall street journal" ceo council just ahead. melissa: "all the president's men" are leaving. who is leaving and who is out for president obama's cabinet? who can fill the roles? lou dobbs is straight ahead. ♪ .

sometimes insting opportunities are hard to spot. you have to dig a little. fidelity's etf market tracker shows you the big picture on how different asset classes are performing, and it lets you go in for a closer look at areas within a class or sector that may be bucking a larger trend. i'm stephen hett of fidelity investments. the etf market tracker is one more innovative reason serious investors are oosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your nt investing idea. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

>> i'm liz macdonald with your fox business brief. it looks like u.s. homeowners are getting better at keeping up with their mortgage payments. according to transunion the percentage of mortgage borrowers at least two months behind on their payments fell in the third quarter to the lowest delinquency rate since the first quarter of 2009. the long island power authority already known as lipa, and its partner national grid facing a class-action lawsuit as thousands of residents are still without power more than two weeks after hurricane sandy. two nasa county lipa customers are the first two plaintiffs to join the lawsuit. 2.6 million bucks for a platinum watch owned by rocker eric clapton. it was one the world's most 10 significant watches.

that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

melissa: so the fiscal cliff is not the only thing that president obama is looking to fix. his cabinet may have a lot of holes in it. look at list of people that are rumored to be looking to leave soon. secretary of state clinton, treasury secretary tim geithner and attorney general holder and secretary of defense panetta, although technically not a cabinet member, cia director david petraeus most definitely out. how will president obama prepare for his second term shuffle? lou dobbs is here with a few suggestions. >> i have no real suggestion. melissa: no? >> it is fun to watch. and might share if i may just a few observations as

we're watching all of this unfold. you know, i happen to think that all of this unseemlyness, if i can put it that way, with general petraeus is probably going to slow things down. there was going to be, it looks like a jailbreak from the cabinet, right now it is looking, it is looking like things have been slowed down a bit. the national security team is going to be an utter disarray here for some time. because, then you bring in general john allen, who has been running obviously the war in afghanistan. we have now got a situation where the attorney general is going to be very busy and the attorney general has pertinent knowledge relationships and understanding of what has been going on in these investigations. so i don't think even though, it had been suggested he would be leaving i don't think he will be leaving soon. jack blue going from chief of staff. rumored going over to

treasure. also erskin bowles rumored to do the same because timothy geithner needs and wants to get out of there. melissa: yeah. >> by the way you will not hear, that will be a chorus of support you hear when he does leave. because, and by the way, that is not all on him. it has been a tumultuous time. lots of battles, hard-fought battles over policies and programs and he has been a, if you will, badly bruised fellow threw it all. -- through it all. secretary of state clinton, i love, she says she wants to get off to a reality show, cooking show, something. of let her get some sleep for a change. you look at the woman's schedule. it's insane. melissa: it is insane. >> it is --. lori: cabinet turnover is pretty commonplace at this point in a second term. >> sure. lori: how much is out of the normal versus normal? moo we're going so see how much. this is, this looks like it

is going to be a little above the historical norm because it did look like it would occur all in a pretty quick staged and well-choreographed manner. that choreography has been disrupted by the two generals who love to dance who we're going to see what happens as a result. lori: curious for your take on hillary clinton in more depth. where do you see her career? i understand she need as break rightly so. there is lot of buzz about 2016. >> i think that uz buzz is probably fairly apt. she and bill clinton are not exactly low energy, you know, you know, betas sitting around waiting for some thought to occur. they have got plans. they have ambitions. i don't think that --. lori: benghazi is not sticking to her? >> benghazi has not to this point but on that issue benghazi is not going to explode because it ooks as though there is direct relationship between petraeus, his mistress and

what happened on september 11th and the decisions that were made. we've seen the unusual step taken by the cia to make two public statements on benghazi. both of which noo are being challenged and challenged rigorously. our own reporting at the fox news channel, those folks, jennifer griffin and catherine herridge, i mean they have just nailed this story. there are a lot of questions for this administration to answer. melissa: lou dobbs, thanks so much. you can see lou every day here at this time. >> every single day. early today. melissa: plenty of time. 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight. catch former cia operative gary bernstein joins lou to discuss the scandal that embroiled the top military and cia officials. thank you, sir. >> thank you. lori: let's check the markets with nicole on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you have internet movers.

that caught your attention. >> let's look at facebook. everybody remembers the ipo back in may. $38 ipo. certainly off those levels and sliding once again, down arrows once again. we know so many insiders sold off. and tomorrow we have another lockup about to expire tomorrow. so more than 700 million facebook shares will hit the markets tomorrow. we're already seeing the selling. the chief operating officer, sheryl sandberg, already sold more than 500,000 shares in recent weeks and still has 20 million left. we have to keep everything in focus. one of the early investors from paypal, sold off 80% of the his face book stake. the truth when money managers are looking at facebook this is a company that obviously has a big uphill battle as far as breaking even and i will proving its operating margins. they're not seeing value and growth until this particular company. netflix, by the way, on the other hand is doing very well today. that one certainly is a winner. back to you.

lori: thank you, nicole. only one step above the vacation wagon on car coolness rating. melissa: minivan getting a makeover. i don't know if it is above the station wagon. not sure about that. ford's new edgier mom vehicle could shake up the auto industry. that's next. ♪

>> aetna ceo who will meet with president obama tomorrow spoke earlier on the company's back up plans and possible layoffs if our leaders in washington can

not work together to avoid the fiscal cliff. peter barnes at the four seasons in washington at "the wall street journal" ceo council. peter, not just ceos in attendance. >> that's right. right now we're hearing from politicians including senator robb portman, republican of ohio and what he is proposing, today, is he wants congress and the president to agree to extend all of the bush tax cuts for everyone, for, six months and then, use that time to try to get comprehensive tax reform which he says will create the kind of tax revenues that the president and democrats say they want from republicans. now there are 80 ceos here and some of them are giving clear warnings to the politicians here in washington. you mentioned aetna's mark bert toe lien any, who is one of those going to the white house tomorrow, to talk to president obama. some of the companies here have created backup plans that include layoffs should the politicians here not

resolve the fiscal cliff. and he said also that obama, the president, needs to improve his relationship with the business community in order to get the economy growing again. now we have two more politicians coming up to give their takes on all of this. democratic congressman chris van hollen. he is the top democrat on the house budget committee. finally treasury secretary tim geithner will be speaking to this group. we're all very interested to see if he will advance the ball on these continuing discussions. lori and melissa, back to you. lori: almost forgot you. >> no. never. melissa: thank you. all right, dick's sporting goods and tj maxx's parent company tjx both reporting better-than-expected earnings today. are they both buys before black friday shopping begins? sandra smith has the retail roundup in today's trade. >> hey, melissa, hey, lori. ubs reit rating the buy rating on dick's sporting

goods and like the results heading into the holiday shopping season. they're up more than 5%, just below their 52-week high, a few bucks off. ubs calling for the so stock to top $58 a share. the stock is lup 39% this year. if it reaches the average analyst price target, that would be a new all time high for dick's. stronger than expected sales growth. they raised full-year forecast, most importantly for analysts same-store sales were up. they were up more than 5%. they beat their own guidance, guys. dick's definitely considered a buy by most analysts heading into the holidays. tjx, they own marshall's and tj maxx stores. had quite a run. a very pretty chart. up 3% today. tjx beating analyst estimates as far as profits and revenues, however they put out a little bit of a warning saying they believe same-store sales will be

zero to 2% up for the holiday period, guys. so, that is sort of not a great sign as far as the overall clothing retail business as far as the holidays are concerned. the discount retailers expected to be good. obviously dick's doing real well as well. lori, melissa. back to you. melissa: thanks very much. lori: now the kids will not pile into the minivan. it is transit wagon. that has a bad connotation. melissa: wagon is better? lori: wagon is certainly old school. ford is unveiling the new car. it is a brand new vehicle and sliding doors and high roof and seats seven and it is a minivan. they refuse to call it that. the term they say turns off customers. debatable. this is based on ford's transit commercial van and will be priced similar to a minivan. gets 30 miles per gallon. they plan to introduce the new vehicle at the auto

show. they have been out of the minivan business for six years. i find anyone any vans, sporty and sexy and easy to drive and can put stuff in them. melissa: they're concerned about the name but are not concerned what it looks like? i think the photo is more of a turnoff than the name. lori: they're trying to hard. you don't like the way it looks? melissa: no. it was like a strange angled box came to a weird point. look at that thing. lori: looks european. melissa: looks like two gerbils should be driving it? what is that commercial? looks like that same, i don't know. calling eight minivan is sort of the least of that thing's trouble. lori: drive that in the neighborhoods and suburbs will certainly will be the only one at least initially. melissa: a fair point. coming up tonight on "money", speaking of cars, tesla motors elon ufk in the "motor trend" car of the year tesla won and how the government restructured the $435 million loan so the

company won't run out of money. lori: good plan. melissa: he got a free ride somewhere else. not here on fox business tonight at 5:00 p.m.. lori: we'll watch that for sure. we're up at this hour with the dow up 35 points right now. bank of america going after the mobile payment market with a new card swiper. tracy byrnes has a preview for you. that is next here on fox business. stay with us. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with peoplee trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. get the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event going onow -- but hurry, the offer ends soon. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ?

don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. ing that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined. i took my son fishing every year. we had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so myoctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lungunction starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. and that means...fish on! symbicort is for copd including chronic bnchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbirt may increase your risk of lung infections, osteorosis, d some eye problems.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting wiin 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today, we're ready for whatever swims our way. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> has been a delightful hour. i don't know. what is in your coffee today. >> you called me a diva on imus this morning. >> that's true, i did. >> fascinating to hear about your personal story. if you haven't read melissa's book you absolutely should but still called me a diva. i have to live up to a little bit. >> i call a deif view. you are the best. i love lori rothman. on that note. tracy: i don't know where to go. >> tracy says i have no idea

what is going on. tracy: we have a dow at 41. tell us how your hour went on the markets. lori: we did nothing for the markets. tracy: we'll take it from there. thank you, guys, have a great day. i'm tracy byrnes. the bell rings, round one on the fiscal cliff in washington. president obama meets with the group most on board with his plan to raise taxes on the rich. that of course is big labor. american small business still pessimistic about the future. national federation of independent business chief economist bill dunkelberg will tell us what america's job creators are most worried about right now. the head of the world's biggest companies meeting at "wall street journal" ceo conference. we have martin sorrell from advertising giant, wpp you can't miss this. we have breaking news on the federal budget deficit. rich edson is in washington with the details. hey, rich. >> $120 billion billion,

that is what the federal government took in than spent. year-to-date, $120 billion. the deficit estimate for entire fiscal year, october 12, to october 13, 991 billion dollars about. compare that to the fiscal year that ended at $1.1 trillion. tracy? tracy: $120 billion year-to-date deficit. rich edson. somebody has to start cutting coupons down there. thank you, sir. >> thanks. tracy: top of the hour and time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes we head down to nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole, investors trying to look past the fiscal cliff, right? keep the dow in green like your pretty shirt today, but it's a tough one. >> it's a tough one because we're hearing from some of the ceos and some big banks that the fiscal cliff is looming and investors and clients are talking about it. i mean it is like the elephant in the living room. there is no doubt that

people are very worried about the fiscal cliff. worried about taxes that are going to be on the rise. worried about paying more on dividends and cap gains and pay role taxes and the like. that is something looming on this market. on the other hand we sold off in a big way, so you have a little room to move to the upside and sort of play around in these levels and that seems to be what investors are doing a little bit today. yesterday we had very light volume. it was a holiday, veterans day. today a very different picture. we're up 47 points, a little better here today. the bank stocks, the banking index is lower, the drug index is higher. we've seen retailers on the move, tj maxx and dick's sporting goods on the move. dow jones industrials on longer term we're well below the 1300 mark. a lot of times we got beyond 1300, i'm sorry, 13,000, people started looking at 14,000 right? when you move over to the s&p and then you talk about

1300 and 1400. back to you. let's not talk about 1300 on the s&p. tracy: dow has been down three of the past four trading days. that is tough pill to swallow. nicole, see you in 15 minutes. the national federation of independent business out with its latest small business survey. while sure there is a small uptick in optimism, it remains below prerecession levels. the nfib chief economist bill dunkelberg joins us now. so great to have you here, sir. >> tracy, thank you. tracy: i would have loved to see results post-election. this was taken right before the election, right? >> you're right. in order to see the impact of the election on small business owners we have to wait until we finish the november survey and we'll also get a look at the impact of sandy because we can look at it on the east coast only and look at the detailed data to see how badly the small business owners were impacted there. tracy: for the most part they are just not feeling all the love they need, are they? small businesses, the heart

of our economy, not feeling optimistic enough. >> yeah, you're right about that. i mean they are half of private gdp and half the private workforce. they are doing very well. thank goodness they're not publicly-traded because the stock market looked pretty bad for them. they're not making all that money overseas that the big companies are making. they're not making money manufacturing and exporting. they're not doing so well. they don't have a good view of the future. when we asked them about business conditions six months from now, 14% said better and 19% expected it toe be worse, that is not good. one in four said i have no idea. that is the highest level of uncertainty we've seen on that measure since jimmy carter's presidency. tracy: must be so disheartening. we just got the federal budget deficit, $120 billion in october. so federal government is not doing anything to try to get their books in order. our small businesses are trying so hard to keep things going yet sales, their top-line growth, is

really where they're struggling, isn't it? >> that is still one of the top problems. we asked them every month what is the most important problem facing your business. we give them 10 choices. three-way tie between weak sales, taxes and cost of useless regulations and red tape. those are the three big problems. this is not changing. tracy: it's not, is it? at the same time because of all that they're not really looking to create jobs anytime soon, are they? >> right. we have a, we asked them about increasing total employment. so that's a job creation question. we had a net 4% who plan to increase jobs. if you look at that in perspective, it ought to have a 10 added to it. should be 14, 15, up in those numbers. so very weak job creation plans. job openings are historically quite low. that is because we have such a dim view of the future and where sales might go. you don't hire any new employees to take care of customers you don't think are going to show up. tracy: right, right. defeats the point. finally, what do they say about access to credit these

days? they were having a tough time getting loans. >> not an issue. our borrowing activity is at a record low level. only 3% say it is their top business problem. and a near-record 64 percent of the owners said, who need as loan? what am i going to do with the money? i can't hire an employee with it if they can't pay back enough to repay the loan or i can't invest in new equipment unless it can pay back enough. with my view of the future i can't see that happening so we're not borrowing. >> we have a chart of regulations and they're facing and has it spiked since 2008. that will not get better anytime soon. do you expect the sentiment to stay pessimistic for a while among our small businesses? >> i think think so. until we do a better job resolving some of the uncertainties that we have, i think that will be the case. they are really burdened with the regulatory process. we heard some numbers recently said they're like, you know, 70 or 80 new regs

or regulatory changes coming every day for the that three months. that is terrible thing to keep track of and keep up on. waste entrepreneural time, the best asset a firm has. tracy: they should be investing not dealing with regulation. >> exactly. tracy: bill dunkelberg, thanks for sharing the results. >> thank you, tracy. tracy: oil on track for the second straight decline as concerns about demand are weighing on the market. we have jeff flock in the pits of the cme with the latest. hey, jeff. >> tracy, how are you? i'll tell you, i look at end of trading in the meats. this fellow on the edge of the pit, totaling up his trades. got husband numbers and calculator out to see whether he won or lost. i will tell you losers but two big winners today, natural gas and chocolate. more about chocolate later. first natural gas. we sometimes forget the seasonality of the markets. natural gas when the temperature drops and there was snow in my yard this morning, natural gas goes up. it is up 4% today.

corn after the harvest, it is down a little bit. there is plenty of corn out there. oil, as you pointed out tracy, down half a percent today. and that was the iea essentially saying there is more oil out there and there will be less consumption. i have dan walking over here to your trading spot. where do i put my damn money these days? >> i think you park it right now. there is too much uncertainty. the market is not confident. it is showing in the stock market. talking about oil prices it is showing there. if you sit on sidelines in a commodity i guess gold but i'm waiting it out to see what happens. >> put it on the sidelines? >> i would. >> can't make money in the markets? >> not on a day-to-day basis. if you're willing to hang on for a long time stay where you're at. if you're not sit on the sidelines, if you see hints on compromises get back in. you lose a few points on the early end but save yourself if it doesn't work. >> probably good advice. let you get back to making money there. >> we're trying. >> there you go, tracy. we're trying, we're trying. tracy: jeff, you teased

chock late. what about the chocolate? >> there will be a worldwide cocoa shortage. a quote in "time" magazine that said, it will be like calf area. in 10 years it will be like caviar. only the rich will be able to afford chocolate. i will shoot myself. tracy: that is hot commodity in my house right now. i have to downsize to keep up. >> can you imagine? that is shortage that would get people's attention, tell you that right now. tracy: thanks, jeff. coming up, labor leaders calling for higher taxes on the rich after meeting with president obama at white house. gerri willis will talk to us about that story ahead. i'm sure she is outraged. still ahead, bank of america challenging squares dominance in the market for mobile payments. we'll get a look at the new card swiper coming up. pretty cool. first, as we do every day at this time of day let's take a look how oil is trading. jeff flock was just talking about it. down 33 cents.

$85.24 a barrel. metals, gold, silver down. copper unchanged. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only nationalets you choosany car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro.

tracy: it is time to make some money with charles payne this hour. he is discussing the mother of all stocks and i'm so glad because i consistently am curious, apple. charles. >> you know apple is like you said everyone is always

asking me about it. it is looking cheap. looking cheap the should i sell it, i'm getting scared. i'm pet getting scared. i would not sell it and not a point where it is pound the table buy. here's your problem. they missed the street two quarters in a row. very un-apple like. if this was steve jobs era the street would overlook that. they would be times report under steve jobs something would miss. always a component problem. he always got the benefit of the doubt. i think initially tim cook did but i'm not sure that is the case now. he has to prove you know what, i can kind of carry the ball. other than that the stock obviously is cheap from most traditional valuation metrics. even at 700 you could argue it was cheap by the way you would typically judge a stock. the earnings estimates for next year come down to 50 bucks from 52.50. the street is very antsy on it right now. although you had two up grids this summer, stiffle

and ubs on the. tracy: you're at 549 now. you potentially say would you short it? >> i wouldn't short it. i wouldn't get that cute with it. i have it in my retirement account as a matter of fact,. tracy: you would go with it. >> that is the downside risk. that is the number it must absolutely hold or something is wrong. tracy: or look out below!. >> or look out below!. listen we know they have more competition in the smartphones area. samsung is doing well. tablet area. third quarter of 2010 they had 87% of the tablet market. now it is 50%. tracy: that is phone thing i would still come back what fits in your pocket and what doesn't. iphone 5, slick goes right in. samsung thing is like putting a coffee table in your pocket. >> i have to take the glasses off and on. bigger better. tracy: five seconds. come the holidays do i buy my kid an ipad or the stock? >> the stock. every time buy the stock over the product. i'm telling you get the kids

gifts like $20 sneakers and buy them nike stock. get a little tablet. tracy: i couldn't understand that. charles payne, you're cracking me up. >> some apple stock no matter where it is. they will love you for it. tracy: i will keep using that word today, charles payne, you're awesome. buy the stock not the ipad. as we do every 15 minutes we go down to nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole i would love to keep talking to you about apple and get your thoughts on it too. but i know you've got home depot. we have another winner today. >> that's right. my kids have lots of apple products on their holiday list. home depot a clear winner. it has been leading the s&p 500. leading the dow jones industrials, moving to levels we haven't really seen, calling it a near 10-year high. this is where the level home depot was hovering '99, 2000. they came out with a upbeat outlook. uptrend in housing. outlook going forward,

current quarter, hurricane sandy actually helped home depot because people were there doing preparations and going back there, getting stuff for the schreen up. home depot a win-win when it comes to hurricane sandy. not in all cases because obviously they had to close doors but sales did well for them. tracy: this morning you said it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out why home depot is up. come on, you're not wrong. you are not wrong, girlfriend. see you in 15 minutes, nicole. coming up we have a fox business exclusive interview with sir martin sorrell, head of globalizing giant wpp. we'll get his take on the state of the global economy. next he will be with peter barnes. but first, let's take a look how the dollar is moving right now as we head out to break. the dollar up against the euro and the u.k. pound, mexican pesos and japanese yen as well. we'll be right back.

>> at 21 minutes past the hour i'm arthel neville with your fox news minute. a congressional report suggests that the food and drug administration wanted to shut down the pharmacy responsible for a recent meningitis outbreak back in 2003. the house energy and commerce committee releasing

a telling history of the new england compounding center's regulatory woes. more than 32 people have died from contaminated steroid shots the pharmacy distributed. pentagon officials confirm defense secretary leon panetta is demoting the former head of u.s. africa command, general kip ward is accused spending thousands of dollars in unauthorized expenses. the former after kri come head will retire as three-star lieutenant ingeneral and pay $82,000 to the government. saudi arabia man found guilty of fire bombing the dallas home of president george w. bush sentenced to life in prison today. the failed terrorist was arrested back in lubbock, texas, back in 2011. those are the headlines. get you back to tracy. tracy: arthel neville. thank you very much. >> yes, tracy. tracy: the world's top business leaders are meeting in washington at "the wall street journal" ceo council and our peter barnes at the four seasons in washington

with, at the conference with a very, very special guest. peter, all yours. >> thank you, tracy. that's right. sir martin sorrell, the head of wpp, the world's largest advertising company and joins us right now and his business it is a little bit sensitive to the economy. >> a little bit. we lead downturns and lag up turns. when people get nervous they cut and i don't think it is the right thing to do. they should be investing in brands. they only restore it when they feel confident. >> ceos here at "wall street journal" ceo conference sound a little bit nervous the future. >> all the people who come in to give us all the advice, accurate predictions are pretty gloomy actually. i came in late this morning. i got in late last night and heard sessions this morning and they were quite gloomy. unlike you peter, they don't believe there will be some >> on the fiscal cliff. >> fiscal cliff, dealing with that good neas knows what they will do. they are talking about

significant job cuts if no agreement is found. but there is considerable degree of uncertainty. these gray swans. >> not black swans. >> these are gray bunz -- ones. we are muddling through. our chinese operation is growing 12 to 13% against the average of the company which is around 3%. middle eastern crisis, iran and israel, whether there will be attack on iranian nuclear installations very difficult to predict. last and most importantly the u.s., not just the fiscal cliff, the debt, $16 of debt and dealing with the deficit how that will play outpost the election . a lot of people are hoping the president will focus on his legacy and will be more accommodating and seek agreement. but the initial indications have not been as positive as perhaps some thought. >> but you said as we were waiting to chat that it's not just that the president in your view needs to be more friendly towards the business community but the

business community also needs to work with the president. >> i think it would be arow gant on the business community to say it is the president's fault. any relationship is two-way. i think the general atmosphere is important. if there is felt to be a lack of respect on either side in terms of what's happened it is not good. so i think improving that atmosphere post the election into the second term this is a big opportunity to re-establish or, develop the relationship in a meaningful way and provide a very good atmosphere to try and deal with the things together. after all one of the things i as a foreigner is over take away from the election was the electorate was saying, trying to bang everybody's heads together to get them to work together to come up with a solution. you have the house with one party. the senate with another. >> president in white house. >> president in white house with one of the two. so it is really a split vote. >> you're going through your planning for 2013. >> that's right. >> a third of your operations are here in the

u.s. so are you planning for potential layoffs in case there is a fiscal cliff? >> not layoffs because at beginning of year we hired heavily as we went into 2012. 2011 was a record year for wpp in our 28 year history. we have never done so well. we think this year will be similarly good year. there is lot of uncertainty. four gray swans and general uncertainty going into 2013. no events. no olympics. no world cups or presidential elections or midterms. in 2014 we have the russia in the winter olympics. we have the brazilian world cup and midterm elections will you before so there will be election year spending. 2013 is not maxiquadrennial like we called it for last year or mini quadrennial we called the world cup year and winter olympics year. much more difficult because of lack of events in our industry. there is tremendous caution

and uncertainty. in those conditions people don't invest. they don't make decisions. they don't make hiring decisions. so i would say unemployment, unless something is done about it, is likely to stay at these levels. of course if they don't reach agreement on the fiscal cliff, it will have very damaging impact on employment and prospects. >> sir martin, thanks for joining us. >> that is wonderfully optimistic view of life. >> we'll be getting back to you on all of that. >> thank you, peter. >> tracy, back to you. tracy: peter barnes, great stuff. interesting how 2013, not posing enough of a good events for advertisers. maybe we've got to come up with something. peter barnes and sir martin sorrell. thank you very much. all right big labor's top leaders visit the white house to lend their support for president obama's plans to raise taxes on, no surprise, the most successful americans. gerri willis is here with her take and i'm sure her outrage. that's next. but first let's take a look at some of the winners and losers on the s&p 500 as we head out to break today.

urban outfitters, i guess the kids are buying again up 3%. ross stores as well, 3%. retailers doing okay. big lots on the flipside, not so great. down 4 1/2%. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters?

at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your leg needs.

maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start. or questions about protecting your family with a will or living trust and you'd like to find the right attorney to help guide you along, answer any questions and offer advice. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau legalzoom helps you get personalized and affordable legal protection. in most states, a legal plan attorney is available with every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

tracy: there we are, 30 past the hour in new york city. let's get a check of the markets as we do every 15 minutes. nicole petallides, 4 of the stock exchange. nicole: let's check the markets with ben willis. what do you think of the market? we have been selling off and trying to hold on to some green. >> big picture, november will be

an opportunity for investors to buy, traders a little more of a struggle trying to buy protections against long positions and december is probably the month we will see the rally continue. november particularly after the election is somewhat of a slow month, a middle soft. nicole: talking about the fiscal collect and hold off investments. they think that is the case? >> no. you shouldn't hold on. that is my point. you should be buying when nobody else wants them. we had this discussion. i told you when they were selling financial stocks and housing stocks don't pay attention. people keep their heads about them will make some money. nicole: by what everyone else is selling. tracy: we love ben willis. cu in 15 minutes. congress back at work. i was surprised too. lame duck session begins after a long election. they were tired.

countdown clock to the looming fiscal cliff is ticking as if they hadn't heard. congress and the president can't reach an agreement by january 1st you know what will happen, automatic spending cuts, tax hikes all kicks in. president obama met with top labor union officials on his plan to avoid the fiscal cliff fight. raising taxes on the rich, here to sort it all out and help remove my sarcasm is gerri willis. cheryl: don't know if i can help you. gerri: this was preaching to the choir bringing in union officials, we had richard trumka and the afl-cio, all the people the president used to campaign for him and drum up support. a real -- you got to hear what richard trumka had to say. >> we are committed to preserving it tax breaks for the middle class and making sure that rich people pay their fair share.

very committed to that. we are committed to that. very committed to making sure the middle class and workers don't end up paying for a party we didn't get to go to and the president is committed to that as well. gerri: no they like the positions of the president and richard trumka and went on to say shared sacrifice, or the phrases the president uses and as we reported over and over again on this network 47% of americans don't pay income taxes at all so the record is not shared sacrifice. if we were starting at shared sacrifice that would be a conversation but as we know lots of people pay no income taxes at all. tracy: when did they become evil? the kennedys were not people. everybody loved the kennedys. gerri: can i add something? tomorrow they meet with business leaders.

every responsible organization in the country, national association of manufacturers, business roundtable. all these groups of gone on record saying we cannot have tax hikes coming to play because they will ut this country into recession. we will lose two million jobs, gdp overall growth declined by 1.3%. we can't really go there. tracy: we need the voice of reason. gerri willis and 9:00 eastern on a fox business network. on tonight is real-estate. everyone's in a while i like to talk about something positive and real estate is one of the biggest opportunities for people out there. we will talk about the investing opportunities, how to get a loan and flip a house and talk about the whole real-estate mess. we are cracking it. gerri: tracy: we need a little sunshine. 6:00 to 9:00 on the fox business network. the man behind microsoft's flagship product windows leaving. just weeks after launching the

new windows 8. adam shapiro has the details. this is fishy. >> unless you speak to people close to microsoft to say steven singhofski never got along with a lot of people. he led them out of the problem with windows this the delivering windows 7 and windows 8 but he was no puppy at christmas to lot of people. people say he was kind of an oppositional force as they try to integrate products and windows across windows phone and x box. here's what steve ballmer had to say, quote, is imperative we continue to drive all line and across all microsoft teams that have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings. read between the lines to translate that statement. she doesn't play nice in the sandbox the plays well for shareholders. that is how long he has been there. he was once bill gates's technical assistant.

tracy: people are not buying pcs. coming up, forget brick and mortar stores online shopping is where the war over holiday sales will be fought. that story is next. as we do every day let's take a look at the 10 and the 30 year treasuries down two basis points, 1.9%. the 30-year down 2.72%, the dow up 15 points, sold off a little bit. we will be right back. before copd...

i took my son fishing every year. we had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden sympms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. and that means...fish on! symbicort is for copd including chronic bnchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbirt may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, d some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pssure before taking it. with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minut. and that makes a difference in my breathing today, we're ready for whatever swims our way. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

lori: i am lori rothman. the federal budget widened in the first month, and total $120 billion which it is up 22% from the time last year when contract negotiations on the fiscal cliff. bankruptcy fall worldwide for chapter 11 for the second time in twelve years. the company says recent economic weakness has taken a toll on its business leaving with a huge amount of debt. 7,000 people at the 270 bowling alley nationwide. get ready for traffic, up thirty-nine million americans driving to their thanksgiving destinations which is up from last year and the most since 2007. the dow is up 7 points with the latest on the fox business

network giving you the power to prosper.

tracy: walmart kicking off its holiday sales and a:00 on thanksgiving day, the yearly as ever but online sales began even earlier and web dealers like amazon are open 24/7 so how another stores compete? tracking the trends as well as winners and losers, the general manager of global research marketing service joins us now. is this necessary? if i am not mistaken lazy folks like me that didn't make those early black friday deals since the day before christmas. >> interesting you should point that out. one of the busiest days, is thanksgiving day. it has been for the last 29 years with the exception of last

year on cybermonday when it was the busiest day on line. tracy: that is why ebay does this survey and figures out thanksgiving meal ends at 10:23 which they didn't survey italian families, but 5:30 sales are starting as far as ebay and amazon go. >> true. in the history of thanksgiving being the busiest day on line for online visits to retailers, consumers were doing research, what happened over the last several years is retailers offering discount sales to get people to buy on thanksgiving day and we are seeing it crossover to brick and mortar stores where people going in at 8:00 in the evening at wal-mart or target to make their purposes. tracy: we have a long way to go but how are they competing? everyone if you go to break and water at all you are going to check this and then you find a

better deal on line. >> something we call show rooming and that is happening and we find a lot of retailers are in sending people to buy online to lower-cost saves sales. a lot more incentives online causing people to make their purchases early on probably making their purchases on thanksgiving day with laptops going into stores that evening. tracy: you anticipating a good holiday season? we had sandy, uncertainty in the economy. are people going to spend this holiday? >> we think they are. looking at consumer expectations index we are at an all-time high since 2008. and if we look back to anything that might mirror that going back to katrina, and a couple months earlier than when we get hit by standee and increase by

5%. after that monster hurricane, looking at things like visits to online sites and consumer optimism looking for a holiday season this year. tracy: anyone who leaves my thanksgiving table will put a hex on you the rest of your life. thank you very much. all right. abc shuffling around executives to gain back a tough spot in the morning show ratings war. dennis kneale, i said abc -- nbc -- whatever. dennis: turmoil does continue at nbc, one of the richest franchises in network television. jim bell, executive producer since 2005 leaving, he had run the 2012 summer games and turned an expected quarter billion dollar loss into a game. his replacement said to be nbc

news alexandra wallace, alex wallace would be the first woman apparently to run the show that invented the morning format 60 years ago and relies on women 65% of the audience today had an unbroken run at 852 weeks straight, 16 years until last april when abc's good morning america topple it. that started panicking nbc and reported the jim bell about to make a drastic change to fix it, pushing for getting rid of anchor and curry and she was yanked off of the show only one year after replacing the beloved meredith vieira but guess what? today's rating trauma continues, ten weeks straight in second place. look at ratings since mid september, second place just shy of four million viewers and ten% behind good morning america. alex wallace to fix that,

running brian williams's prime-time show and looking for number 2 to held her and she will need all the help she can get. tracy: a lot of people watching morning tv. quarter till the hour. time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes we head to nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange. euro zone financing basically looking for another round pushing this degree to another week. >> what is going on in europe? let's break it down a little bit. look at national bank of greece, a great indicator, great one to watch trading as low as $1.81 and it is down 5% but had been down 14% and this is the euro finance ministers at the meeting, talking about further money needed for greece at the same time greece has been trying to enact a budget cuts and economic reforms but sales --

failed to reach an agreement, so this really continues to weigh not only on europe and the global economy, that is what we begin to talk about, today the euro is lower against the dollar as well and that also fares into our markets as well and the stronger dollar and equity market can take off. tracy: taking on square. and winning over the market for mobile payments. let's take a look at some of the winners and losers on nasdaq as we head to break. monster beverages up 3% and still holding on up 2%. we will be right back.

tracy: two major retailers releasing earnings today with what to die and what to sell before black friday. details on the trade. tracy: stocks not so much, one thing they have been common is morning superstorm sandy on the east coast will make a dent in their profits and profits saw a modest spike but they were less than expected. the spike in promotions we talked about in the conference call, putting out big sales to get high end customers to buy

things and they were commenting on this morning that the taking of the fiscal clip that year's end could put a dent on their sales, higher end customers are more aware of the fiscal cliff and raising taxes and that could prevent them from buying more. michael core's stock is up 87% so far, topped estimates but tracy michael too warning that luxury sales, outlook for luxury sales could be dim this holiday season so the fiscal cliff playing a big part in their current quarter and last quarter and superstorm sandy. we will see how that plays out. the fax flag ship store was boarded up and closed for two days. that account for a fifth of the overall sacks sales at one store so a big impact from the storm as well. tracy: good stuff. thank you. the competition in the mobile payments market totally heating

up. bank of america launching a mobile apps and credit card site for that allows small business accept payments using a smart phone or tablet. with more on that, tom bell, bank of america merchant service ceo. it is really cool, you are taking on square which is the company out there right now allowing people to do this to play when apple did, making get your own. >> we are providing a solution that serves all segments of the merchant base, smallest largest, you apply online, simple process, you can be approved in an hour and take payment immediately, you send a free reader, application is free and 2.7%. tracy: people can apply as early as today. >> start registering and we will ship. tracy: your customers demanded this. >> we have been working with customers year-and-a-half on various mobile strategies. we had a pilot program in marketing and great success with that and large retailers asking

for mobile solutions and small merchants want to take their business mobile land have a business -- it is a reader and the i phone 5 on the bottom. it snaps in simply and launch the application, swiped the card and enter the amount and sign the ticket and receive the e-mail and we are awaiting them. tracy: what is to stop anyone from doing this? >> other banks are moving into this but we believe the accommodation with the broad oo bread of services the bank of america brings, treasury services to deposit and payroll service and payroll, we believe it will be a unique offering and that is the closest we want to play in. tracy: coming in on the small business, wall street has vilified these banks as evil and all they do is help the rich but you are trying to help the little guy. bank of america versus square,

maybe you will get financing next time. >> and make sure you get your funds the next day for a small business when you deliver services you want the money right then, don't want to wait 30 days to get the money from the processor. tracy: people go on line, the product is available. how many people do you have registered? >> 2,000. tracy: small businesses getting out and selling products. how quickly do you see small-business environment? are they somewhat encouraged? >> we take the business in a different way, felt restricted to be in a brick and mortar situation and now they realize they can take the business mobile and serve customers in a different way than they served in the past. tracy: you can sell your product at the next house party. you are great. thank you. it is on the web site and available december 3rd.

up next, liz claman is at the cme global leadership conference, cheryl casone in studio. liz claman will be talking exclusively to the biggest names including the virgin group shall under -- founder and chairman richard branson. he starts billion dollar businesses no matter what uncertainty is going on in the world and cme executive chairman terry duffy blasting the government for hurting his ability to run his business. count down to the closing bell. cheryl casone is here in studio. that is all next. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from ameritrade.

is what drives us to broadcast the world's biggest events in 3d, or live to your seat high above the atlantic ocean. it's what drives us to create eco-friendly race tracks, batteries that power tomorrow's cars, nearlyndestructible laptops, and the sustainable smart towns of the future. at panasonic, we're driven to make what matters most better. just another way we're engineering a better world for you.

liz: good afternoon everybody. i'm liz claman. it is the last hour of trading. this is countdown to the closing bell. we are beginning right now. i am live at the ritz carlton in